How to Avoid Making Bad Decisions at Work
20 December 2010
Read by 2403 persons
If mistakes are human at work, they can still be avoided. The solution: identify the "mental shortcuts" that lead you to choose the wrong path.
Why do we make bad decisions? According to Olivier Sibony, director at McKinsey&Company, diagnostic errors are linked to prejudices and biases that distort reasoning. Luc de Brabandère, associate director of the Boston Consulting Group and co-author of "Petite philosophie de nos erreurs quotidiennes" (Eyrolles), calls them "cognitive biases": these are "mental shortcuts that can turn into short circuits" and lead to missteps. A review of details of all these clues that should put you on the alert.
1/ Hasty judgments
Often linked to excessive self-confidence, they push an individual to decide too quickly, without taking into account key elements such as uncertainty or the possibility of failure.
2/ Your personal interests
In general, they are in conflict with those of the company or even with the mission of the decision-maker. And this can lead to falsified expense reports, or even more massive embezzlement, including the fraudulent use of certain information.
3/ Unsuspected attachments
This is the case when data (results, figures, probabilities, etc.) are considered to be a priori indisputable. Everyone in the company assumes that it is not necessary to deviate from them. The result can be catastrophic.
4/ Misleading experiences
One situation reminds you of another, which pushes you to act in a certain way. In reality, these similarities only have one effect: to guide you in the wrong direction.
5/ Your teams
They too can lead you to error, particularly through excessive conformity. This is called "sunflower management": everyone turns towards the sun, in other words the boss, and refuses to engage in any contradictory debate because, by definition, the "boss is always right". As a result, bad decisions are made without arousing any opposition.
In all cases, your task will be to identify the "biases" to which you are most sensitive and which, consequently, risk misleading you.
Published on December 16, 2010
Posted online on December 21, 2010
www.capital.fr
Why do we make bad decisions? According to Olivier Sibony, director at McKinsey&Company, diagnostic errors are linked to prejudices and biases that distort reasoning. Luc de Brabandère, associate director of the Boston Consulting Group and co-author of "Petite philosophie de nos erreurs quotidiennes" (Eyrolles), calls them "cognitive biases": these are "mental shortcuts that can turn into short circuits" and lead to missteps. A review of details of all these clues that should put you on the alert.
1/ Hasty judgments
Often linked to excessive self-confidence, they push an individual to decide too quickly, without taking into account key elements such as uncertainty or the possibility of failure.
2/ Your personal interests
In general, they are in conflict with those of the company or even with the mission of the decision-maker. And this can lead to falsified expense reports, or even more massive embezzlement, including the fraudulent use of certain information.
3/ Unsuspected attachments
This is the case when data (results, figures, probabilities, etc.) are considered to be a priori indisputable. Everyone in the company assumes that it is not necessary to deviate from them. The result can be catastrophic.
4/ Misleading experiences
One situation reminds you of another, which pushes you to act in a certain way. In reality, these similarities only have one effect: to guide you in the wrong direction.
5/ Your teams
They too can lead you to error, particularly through excessive conformity. This is called "sunflower management": everyone turns towards the sun, in other words the boss, and refuses to engage in any contradictory debate because, by definition, the "boss is always right". As a result, bad decisions are made without arousing any opposition.
In all cases, your task will be to identify the "biases" to which you are most sensitive and which, consequently, risk misleading you.
Published on December 16, 2010
Posted online on December 21, 2010
www.capital.fr
